Last name: Dorbhan

Killed in an attack on the Maison de la Presse in Algiers when three men parked a car-bomb near the offices of the newspaper Le Soir d’Algérie, which were destroyed in the blast and those of Le Matin and L’Opinion damaged. Two other Le Soir journalists, editor-in-chief Allaoua Ait Mebarek, and Djamel Deraza, editor of the magazine page, were killed and several from Le Matin and L’Opinion wounded. A dozen people were killed in all. The Armed Islamic Group (GIA) claimed credit for the attack five days later.

Algeria - 1991-96: Civil war

The Algerian civil war was between the government plus the army and police, and various Islamist groups. Fighting began in in December 1991, when the government cancelled elections after the first round because it feared the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) would win and establish a theocracy. After the FIS was banned, different Islamist guerrilla groups quickly emerged and began fighting the government and its supporters. The main armed groups were the Islamic Armed Movement (MIA), operating in the mountains, and the Islamic Armed Group (GIA) in urban areas. The fighting is thought to have killed more than 100,000 people. The election of a new president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, in 1999 and an amnesty for most of the fighters helped end the civil war, which was won by the government. The Islamic Salvation Army (AIS) (formerly the MIA) surrendered and the GIA was defeated by 2002.

Algeria - 1991-96: Repression

Journalists were especially targeted in the civil war, caught between Islamist violence and the government’s political, economic, and administrative oppression, and were forced to live in semi-clandestinity. At least 59 were killed. They were a favourite target of the Islamic Armed Group (GIA), whose leader, Mourad Si Ahmed, said in 1993 that "those who fight us with their pens will perish by the sword."

Algeria - 1995-96: Civil war

Talks between the government and the imprisoned leaders of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) broke down in 1995 and fighting between the Islamic Armed Group (GIA) and the pro-FIS Islamic Salvation Army (AIS) intensified.